Backyard planters

I have been thinking about planting some annuals for the past several weeks, but just got around to it this weekend. There were actually four projects:

We have 5 hangers in the back on the fence around the pool where we generally hang baskets of flowers. I decided to do something a bit different this year. I bought galvanized steel buckets at Rural King and drilled drainage holes in them. Then planted them with Gerbera Daisies in red and yellow (I love Gerbera Daisies!).

They turned out pretty cute. The only problem is that the handles aren't very long, so this may not work for everyone. (Truthfully, I was originally going to paint the pails to match my next project, but got lazy.)

Next, I decided I wanted to grow herbs this year...namely basil and cilantro. While I was perusing the Save-On-Crafts site, I came across a cute galvanized steel planter set and tray. I liked the steel look but really wanted to paint them and decided on black and white. 

The fact that the planter had THREE containers made me stop and think about which herb I would like (besides basil and cilantro). And then it came to me...summertime...mojitos...MINT!! :-)

The third project was turning a birdbath we had on the side of our house into a succulent planter. Actually, this just involved drilling a drainage hole in the birdbath and then finding the right plants. Of course, I used potting soil made especially for cacti and succulents. I still want to add some decorative rock on top (both for looks and to keep the soil from washing away when it rains), but here it is (sorry for the blurry pics, I will try to get better ones tomorrow):

Truthfully, when I bought my succulents, I overestimated the size of the birdbath so I have several left over and will be making more succulent containers for indoors, so stay tuned!

The last project is one for which I got the idea from Pinterest. It was originally posted on Salt Tree. It is a planter that goes around your umbrella on the patio table. And, it is simple and extremely cheap to make!! All you need is a large round plastic bowl and a plastic cup. Yep, that's it. I found the bowl and a set of 4 cups for $1 each at Wal-Mart. So, yes, I bought extra bowls to make some of these planters for others!

You simply cut a whole in the bowl that is slightly smaller in diameter than the base of the cup (making sure it is large enough to go around your umbrella). You also may need to cut the cup so that it is no taller than the bowl. Then you just glue them together.

(What you don't see is that I also put some drainage holes in the bowl before gluing them.) Here is how it turned out:

Okay. That's it for now. (Of course, I still need to get pots of flowers out on the front porch as well!) By the way, I did try a trick I saw on Pinterest when planting all of these: I used a coffee maker filter to cover the drainage hole so the dirt stays in while the water can run out. We will see how that works.